Walkers at the Greater Los Angeles Heart Walk cross bridges on the first leg of the walk at Rainbow Lagoon Park in Long Beach , CA. on Sunday, November 10, 2013. (Sean Hiller / Staff Photographer)

LONG BEACH >> For nearly 2,500 people at Rainbow Lagoon Park, putting one foot in front of the other was the key to better health and a more full life.

The American Heart Association held its annual heart walk in Long Beach on Sunday morning. Participants ranged from heart attack survivors to those who have lost loved ones to heart disease.

“We hadn’t done a heart walk in Long Beach in five or six years,” said Tammy Rocker, senior vice president of the American Heart Association Greater Los Angeles Area. “We only had one walk up in Pasadena, then last year we spread it out into seven areas.”

The association’s mission is not only to encourage a healthy, active lifestyle, but to promote awareness of heart disease.

“There’s a lot of survivors here,” Rocker said. “We want to create awareness. (Heart disease) is the No. 1 cause of death. We have restarted walks in Pasadena, Downtown LA, Santa Monica, Santa Clarita, Pomona and the Antelope Valley, but I love coming to Long Beach. It’s such a community feel here.”

Expanding the walks to communities throughout the Los Angeles area has been a success, she said.

About $77,000 has been raised so far this year in the seven locations, Rocker said.

By the finish line, a tall man danced to the music blaring from the speakers and cheered the walkers on, dishing out high fives as they crossed the finish line.

“Come on baby, bring it on home,” he cheered into the microphone. “Walk it off.”

For Papa Joe Aviance, cheering for walkers at Sunday’s heart walk was about much more than just volunteering.

“Basically four years ago I was featured in a music video, “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life,” he said. “When I saw myself in that video, that was my wake-up call.”

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Aviance weighed 450 pounds at the time.

“I was unemployed, didn’t have money to go to a gym so I started walking up to five miles a day,” he said “Within 18 months I lost more than 250 pounds.”

Volunteering at the Greater Los Angeles Heart Walks has been a rewarding experience, Aviance said.

“It’s been amazing meeting the survivors, people that want to take control of their lives,” he said. “I want people to know that they can walk it out. It doesn’t take something drastic. Just put one foot in front of the other.”

Denis Brumm, a board member of the association’s Greater Los Angeles chapter, said other factors contribute to heart disease besides a poor diet and lack of exercise.

Two-and-a-half years ago he had a 95 percent blockage in the widow maker, a common term used to describe a condition affecting two major arteries on the left side of the heart. Blockage in these arteries often leads to a massive heart attack and sudden death.

“I was active and I looked (slim) like I do now,” Brumm said. “All I had was a little left hand pain.”

Awareness is the key to preventing heart attacks and other acute heart conditions, he said.

For one Alhambra resident, Sunday’s heart walk was bittersweet.

“My son passed away on March 2 at 22 years old of a heart attack,” said Marcie Tellev. “PJ was very athletic. He had no symptoms. He wrestled and played football. One day he went out dancing and I got a call from the emergency room.”

The cause was an enlarged heart. He was her only son.

Tellev hopes to change requirements for high school athlete’s physical exams so they include electrocardiograms, a test that measures the heart’s electrical activity and can provide information on abnormalities and risk of a heart attack.

“I do this to honor him, to raise awareness to others,” she said. “His birthday’s coming up on Nov. 16 so it’s been a little hard.”